Tag Archives: question of freedom

Democracy comes with its tests, some of which every democratic nation inevitably flunks. In fact, there hasn’t been any nation in the history of democracy that has passed all the tests all the time. And needless to say, a regime always finds ways to justify its anti-democratic actions, no matter how ridiculous its arguments. But what’s been happening in India (at least technically the largest democracy on the planet) with regard to free speech is way beyond poor test performance; it’s a travesty, pure and simple—and one of the stupidest kinds. I’m particularly interested in the crackdown on certain political cartoonists.

Cartoonists, of all people! COME ON!! We grew up during the ‘60s and the ‘70s in a rich culture of incisive political cartoons by Kutty, R.K. Laxman et al, an era when India was a fledgling democracy by any standard; yet I can’t remember any serious reprisals against cartoonists. Every issue of the major magazines and newspapers in the country had a regular cartoon page. These days, on the other hand, some cartoonists are being hauled to jail, intimidated, even charged with sedition (Sedition, mind you!) for addressing corruption in government and related institutions. What is more, the primary weapon of such assault is a bizarre hybrid of an anti-subversion law made by the British colonial administration in 1860 and the very recent Information Technology Act, the primary purpose of which is to ensure cyber security. Of course, the cases are going nowhere on the legal front because it’s not easy to prove a bunch of cartoons seditious. But the intimidation and hassle are enough to make a regular citizen either break down, or, as it seems in the case of Aseem Trivedi of Mumbai, become more resolved. I don’t find Aseem Trivedi’s work adequately mature in terms of skill, punch line or aesthetic. But that’s beside the point. Whenever a regime takes its battle to cultural workers, like artists and journalists, it’s a disturbing symptom of a wider disease, where quality is less important than the question of rights.

Democracy in India has never shown much tolerance for open debates, and we all know that a list of the wrongs and ill-doings of the Indian system would be pretty long; but this!! Even other police states must be rolling on the floor laughing, because ironically, these antics of the Indian authorities provide fodders for great cartoons!

More later on the question of freedom of speech and creative expression in India.

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Globalthek

What is a thek? Simply put, it’s a joint (though not the kind you may have smoked in college!!), a place where like-minded people informally get together for a common purpose. The purpose can be a questionable one, such as drinking, drug use or gambling; or it can be a benign form of socialization. Thek has been a common
term in the street parlance of Bengali culture (and occasionally in colloquial Hindi as well) since around the 1970s, when my generation in India came of age. While I’m not quite sure about the provenance of the word, it’s not impossible that it evolved from the word “discotheque”, a form of entertainment that also became popular about the same time.

Needless to say, it is the socialization aspect of thek that is at the core of this site; and in this context, it is integral to another word: adda. Unlike thek, adda is a uniquely Bengali concept (why this is so is a matter of complex anthropological inquiry, beyond the purview of this introduction). The word loosely translates as a kind of informal chit-chat. An adda has no predetermined topics, no apparent logic of progression, purpose or time limit; conversations change course arbitrarily, seemingly unrelated topics come and go and time seems to halt in a perpetual present. Often sporadic, adda can happen virtually at any place; but if the same individuals frequent a specific place with some regularity (everyday, every weekend, once in a while) for
adda, then that place qualifies as a thek. In short, a thek is a recognized venue for adda. It can be a bar, a clubhouse, a living-room, a porch, even a street-corner; but most preferably, it’s a tea-stall or a coffee-house, primarily because tea or coffee (along with cigarettes, for some) is indispensable for most addas. Especially prevalent among Bengali youth, the practice of adda isn’t age- or class-specific, though it is customary for the patrons of a thek to belong to a particular age-group and class.

What does one achieve from going to a thek for adda? Except that it helps one to relax (which is an overused argument, anyway), I don’t believe any Bengali knows a reasonable answer to this question; yet most would almost instinctively accept an invitation to an adda. Too much investment in adda is often criticized as
unproductive idling, which it indeed is. And yet, historically, immensely productive adda isn’t oxymoronic at all. The famous thek of the Calcutta Coffee House on Kolkata’s College Street is a case in point. Writers, artists, filmmakers, activists (especially those of the leftist ilk) and the like have gathered there for generations, and some of the most notable contributions in those fields have germinated in the vibrant exchanges, discussions and debates held there day after day, for years. Therefore, no matter how bizarre it may sound, adda is arguably a crucial component of Bengali cultural discourse.

In light of this discursive role of adda, its gender dynamic at an outdoor thek must be mentioned. Until the last decade or two, with the exception of a handful of venues like the Calcutta Coffee House and college cafeterias (called “canteens’ in India), an outdoor thek had been frequented almost exclusively by males.

When my generation was young, for a young female to sit in a roadside tea-stall and chat with her male friends was to raise a whole lot of eyebrows. Those days are all but hazy memories, at least in a big city like Kolkata, and that’s good news indeed.

I have lived abroad since the late 1980s, but have always resumed adda at familiar as well as new theks on my regular visits to Kolkata. Therefore, soon after I considered having my own space on the Internet, the concept of thek provided the primary impetus to make my space both personal and public. So here it is.

Grounded in a bit of nostalgia, this site is a virtual thek. But it differs from the conventional thek devoted to adda because it has a specific purpose: to promote critical understanding of art and visual culture. I envisage this as a productive platform where artists, designers, art writers, culture critics and the like from anywhere on the planet can share ideas and make new contacts.

One part of the site has my personal stuff: my essays and other writings, images, and blog; while the other part is open to friends, acquaintances, even strangers (who, once part of the thek, wouldn’t be strangers any more). Artists are invited to offer their images for display in the Gallery, along with their vitae and contact information. They can also advertise their exhibitions or other efforts in the Bulletin. All this is completely free of charge (though, if participation swells in the future, the site’s maintenance may require a nominal one-time uploading fee, just like people at a thek often chip in for tea or snacks). Any party interested in someone’s art should contact the artist directly, since I am not interested in financially profiting from such transactions (this policy will never change). Art writers and culture critics are welcome to contribute articles in the Essays/Reviews/Reports, and anyone is free to propose topics on the Discussion page for dialogs and debates. Finally, all are expected to provide feedback on the ongoing effort to upgrade and improve the site.

Milestone

Pages

Amrit: A Poetic Meta-Exhibition by Sunanda K Sanyal Four white horses stand atop tall columns, surveilled by a series of watchful painted eyes; two bowl-like objects rest on a padded bench; a two-part slab with its own ocular sits on a tall wooden stool; seven white horses, standing in a row on a horizontal metal […]

‘Global’: A View from the Margin by Sunanda K Sanyal There is no question that for contemporary artists of non-Western origin, the doors to international art scenes, barely ajar in the late 1980s, have opened wider, with increasing access to an inter-continental art market and blockbuster exhibitions. What is more, in the absence of any […]

Current Article published in www.globalthek.com “Being Modern”: Identity Debates and Makerere’s Art School in the 1960s Sunanda K Sanyal (Published: Monica Visona and Gitti Salami eds., A Companion to Modern African Art. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell: pp. 255-75) Ulrich Middeldorf was a historian of Renaissance art. A student of the legendary Heinrich Wöl […]

Scandalous Art and the “Global” Factor by Sunanda K Sanyal One often hears these days that Indian art has “gone global”. Indeed, for those of us who were adults in India during the 1970s and 1980s, living with dead telephones, state-run television and neighborhood mom-and-pop stores is now all but a hazy memory. In that […]

From Object to Experience: Notes on American Sculpture by Sunanda K Sanyal To put it rather bluntly, it is impossible to write an exclusive history of modern sculpture. Though one could make the same argument about modern painting, it certainly is more relevant to sculpture; for unlike painting’s occasional insistence on purity and self-critique (as […]

An Unexplored Discourse in Kolkata’s Visual Culture by Sunanda K Sanyal In its vibrancy, variety, and opulence, Durga Pujo is indeed comparable to such grand spectacles as the Carnival of Brazil. Yet unlike the Brazilian event, which has been closely examined by chroniclers of visual culture, this dynamic Bengali autumn festival has largely been denied serio […]

“A Homecoming Spectacle” (58 mins. & 28 mins.) The documentary examines specific aspects of the visual culture of Durga Pujo, a grand religio-cultural festival held in Bengal, India. Locally, it is seen as the occasion of the Hindu Goddess Durga’s annual visit to her parental home. Central to the rituals is a sculptural image of […]

Ganesh Pyne Ganesh Pyne, the famed contemporary Indian painter, passed away at a private hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday, March 12. He was 76. Born in 1937 in a large family of North Kolkata, Pyne spent all his life in the city that so enchanted him. He is widely acknowledged as a leading second-generation Indian […]

(I have a policy that this site will only cover issues related to art and visual culture, which is why I do not comment on a lot of other things happening around us. Today, however, is an exception. After fighting for her life for almost two weeks, the 23-year-old victim of the brutal gang rape […]

Democracy comes with its tests, some of which every democratic nation inevitably flunks. In fact, there hasn’t been any nation in the history of democracy that has passed all the tests all the time. And needless to say, a regime always finds ways to justify its anti-democratic actions, no matter how ridiculous its arguments. But […]